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Our expert team of child care solicitors endeavour to make sure every child is protected as the largest provider of legal aid in the UK.
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No matter the issue, our solicitors are experienced in all child law matters and will act quickly on your behalf.
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Child Care Articles
Wales cuts family court completion times by half (24 December 2015)
Completion times for care proceedings in the family court in Wales have been cut by more than half, with nearly 77% of cases completed within a new 26-week time limit, according to a new report. Read more...
London council offers fast-track service to recruit more foster carers (21 December 2015)
Havering Council is calling on more foster carers to come forward, as the number of teenagers in need of fostering continues to rise. Read more...
Teenagers take the lead in tackling FGM with new website (18 December 2015)
The government has announced the launch of a youth led website run by teenagers, to help educate other young adults about female genital mutilation (FGM) and steps they can take to prevent the practice. Read more...
Government overhauls children’s services (17 December 2015)
Landmark reforms to children’s services will mean failing services in local authorities will be taken over by high-performing authorities, teams of experts and charities. Read more...
New study findings show one in four women will return to the family court to have child taken into care (15 December 2015)
Researchers from Lancaster University, Brunel University London and the Tavistock and Portman NHS Foundation Trust have updated the findings of a 2014 study that confirmed a “hidden population” of mothers caught up in a cycle of family court proceedings, with one child after another being removed from their mother’s care. Read more...
Ofsted annual child care survey gives a voice to children living in foster care or children’s homes (25 November 2015)
Ofsted has for the first time highlighted the findings of its annual survey of children living in children’s homes and foster care. Read more...
Pause Southwark launched as part of national pilot to prevent repeat removals of children from families (16 November 2015)
Pause Southwark has been launched as part of the national Pause programme, working with women who have experienced or are at risk of repeat removals of children from their care. Read more...
New chair of Rotherham Local Safeguarding Children Board (16 November 2015)
Rotherham Local Safeguarding Children Board (LSCB) has appointed a new chair from November. Read more...
Peterborough Council set to improve children’s services and training (11 November 2015)
Peterborough City Council is proposing the development of a new service, which would secure permanent long-term placements as quickly as possible for a range of young people who are looked after. Read more...
Barnet Council asks parents and carers to respond to Childcare Sufficiency Assessment in the borough (9 November 2015)
Barnet Council is giving parents, parents-to-be and carers until 4 December to tell the council whether existing childcare is accessible, affordable – and is meeting people’s needs in the borough. Read more...
Council adoption services to be “streamlined” into regional bodies to speed up adoption (5 November 2015)
David Cameron has announced that child adoption services are to be streamlined, with council adoption services being merged into regional organisations. Read more...
Wolverhampton Council launches new project to support care leavers (2 November 2015)
A new project has been launched in Wolverhampton to improve the transition process for young adults leaving care. Read more...
“Root and branch” review of children in care announced (29 October 2015)
The Prime Minister and Education Secretary Nicky Morgan have announced a “root and branch review” of children’s residential care, to help put an end to a life of disadvantage for some of the most vulnerable children in care. Read more...
Sister of murdered baby and boyfriend jailed for 25 years (28 October 2015)
The sister of a baby aged 14 months and her boyfriend have been jailed for a total of 25 years, after being convicted for their part in the baby’s murder. Read more...
Government announces £5m counter-extremism initiative (19 October 2015)
The government is to fund a £5 million initiative to build a national coalition against extremism in communities and online. Read more...
Blackpool Council launches campaign in support of National Adoption Week (19 October 2015)
Blackpool Council is supporting National Adoption Week (October 19 – October 25), encouraging people to think differently about adoption. Read more...
Bromley Council hosts event for prospective adopters to launch National Adoption Week (19 October 2015)
Bromley Council’s Adoption Service is holding an information event today (19/10/15) to celebrate National Adoption Week from 19-25 October. Read more...
Father jailed for nine years for manslaughter of baby son (12 October 2015)
Oxford Crown Court has jailed the father of an 11-week-old baby boy, who died after sustaining serious head injuries and multiple injuries to his body while in the care of his father. Read more...
Council urges parents to take up government’s free childcare places (8 October 2015)
Kent County Council is reminding local parents to claim 15 hours a week of free childcare and education for 38 weeks a year for children aged two who are eligible – as well as all three- and four-year-olds. Read more...
West Midlands “has made significant progress” in protecting young people from child sexual exploitation (5 October 2015)
Whitehall Director General Stephen Rimmer has said he is confident that children in the West Midlands are safer now than they were when he moved to the region two years ago, on secondment from the Home Office. Read more...
Barnardo’s calls fall in adoption placement orders “deeply concerning” (5 October 2015)
Barnardo’s children’s charity has said it is deeply concerned about a 24% fall in the number of children being put forward for adoption. Read more...
Psychological control by parents may affect children’s later wellbeing and mental health (29 September 2015)
Researchers at University College London (UCL) have found that children brought up in families with less controlling parents lead happier lives. Read more...
Children in special support schools require more dental care (28 September 2015)
A new survey by Public Health England (PHE) has found that children in special schools are slightly less likely to have severe tooth decay compared with children educated in mainstream schools – but are more likely to have teeth extracted. Read more...
Suspended sentence for mother who abandoned newborn (23 September 2015)
A woman who abandoned her newborn baby at the front door of a block of flats in County Durham has been given a suspended sentence at Peterlee Magistrates’ Court. Read more...
Norfolk County Council debates early intervention for children’s services to save money (14 September 2015)
Norfolk County Council’s Children’s Services Committee is to meet on Tuesday (15/09/15), to discuss how services for vulnerable children and families can be improved – as well as measures to reduce the high cost of intervention and help plug the council’s funding gap. Read more...
Family judge blasts IVF clinic errors which call into question parentage of children (14 September 2015)
President of the Family Division Sir James Munby has recommended that consent forms issued by fertility clinics to prospective parents using a sperm donor should be double-checked before treatment starts, to prevent issues of compliance, consent and parentage arising after a child is born. Read more...
British man denied parental responsibility for child born as a result of US surrogacy (9 September 2015)
The President of the Family Division, Sir James Munby, has ruled that a British father who paid an American surrogate mother to deliver a child for him cannot be awarded sole parental responsibility for his child in the British courts. Read more...
West Midlands cabbies join fight against child sexual exploitation (7 September 2015)
Taxi drivers in the West Midlands have joined the fight against child sexual exploitation (CSE), as part of the regional See Me, Hear Me campaign. Read more...
Government to review school allocations, to ease pressure on parents (1 September 2015)
The government’s Schools Minister Nick Gibb is proposing changes in schools allocation, which would mean siblings would be given places at the same school to prevent parents having to make more than one journey on the school run. Read more...
Investigation finds councils taking children into care over parents’ gaming, smoking habits and dental health neglect (25 August 2015)
An investigation by The Sun has found that children are being taken into care over fears they may become addicted to playing computer games. Read more...
Changes to fostering rules a “spectacular success”, as more children remain with foster parents after age of 18 (24 August 2015)
Children and Families Minister Edward Timpson has hailed a new government scheme under which local councils are required to support children who stay with their foster parents beyond the age of 18 as “a spectacular success”. Read more...
Child rapist recalled to prison after new girlfriend contacts police about his past (19 August 2015)
A man convicted of child sex offences has been jailed after being released from prison and going on to commit a further offence under the Sexual Harm Prevention Order (SHPO). Read more...
Four-year prison sentence for mother who branded “Smiley face” on baby daughter’s cheek with cigarette lighter (18 August 2015)
A mother who “branded” her baby’s face with a “Smiley face” using a cigarette lighter has been jailed for child cruelty at Leicester Crown Court. Read more...
Caution for Manchester mother who left her children “home alone” without food or heating to go on winter holiday (10 August 2015)
A mother who left her two young children alone at home without food, gas or heating has been spared court action and has been given a caution. Read more...
Father fights three-year battle for daughter he was told had been aborted (10 August 2015)
A court has jailed a mother and her gay friend, after she duped the father of the child she had given birth to into believing she had aborted their daughter. The mother had gone on to have the baby – but had given her daughter to a gay friend. Read more...
Police investigate London case involving FGM carried out on baby (3 August 2015)
Police in London are investigating the case of a baby from a British family of Malaysian origin, who was allegedly taken overseas for FGM when just a few months old. Read more...
Making FGM reporting a statutory duty would offer professionals “clarity” says Home Office (23 July 2015)
The Home Office has marked the one-year anniversary of London’s Girls’ Summit on Wednesday (22/07/15), by saying that more needs to be done to protect girls from abuse. Read more...
Grandparents fight council decision to put their three-year-old granddaughter up for adoption (22 July 2015)
A three-year-old girl will allegedly be put up for adoption by social workers in Shoeburyness, six months after her grandparents started caring for her because her mother was hospitalised suffering from depression. Read more...
Cuts to early intervention funding “will damage young lives” (13 July 2015)
Early help by local authorities has been a casualty of government spending cuts, according to children charities the Children^s Society and National Children^s Bureau (NCB). Read more...
British mother stranded in Spain after hospital “seizes” newborn baby for DNA test (6 July 2015)
A mother whose newborn baby was seized by a Spanish hospital has alleged they seized her child because of her race. Read more...
UN report says scrapping Human Rights Act may deny children justice in the courts (1 July 2015)
A new report from the four children’s commissioners for the United Nations (UN) has warned that welfare cuts and the repeal of the Human Rights Act will potentially deny Britain’s children justice in the courts. Read more...
Father jailed after 14-year-old daughter reports forced marriage to police (30 June 2015)
Manchester Crown Court has jailed a father who married off his 14-year-old daughter to a man she did not know and who went on to sexually abuse her. Read more...
“National strategy” needed to help public report child neglect concerns (29 June 2015)
Research by Action for Children has revealed that nearly one-third of adults living in Cambridgeshire have concerns over the safety of a child in their neighbourhood. Read more...
Parents claim medics placed secret “do not resuscitate” note on son’s records without telling them (22 June 2015)
An 18-year-old boy at the centre of a right-to-die court case was allowed to die by doctors who allegedly placed a “do not resuscitate” in case of heart attack note on his medical records without advising his parents. Read more...
Protection order granted in case of three-year-old at risk of FGM (17 June 2015)
A three-year-old girl from South Yorkshire assessed as being at risk of female genital mutilation (FGM) has been made a ward of court. Read more...
Mum and son missing after family court awards custody to father (10 June 2015)
A 35-year-old woman from Somerset and her three-year-old son have gone missing after a judge in the Family Division ruled that the boy should live with his father. Read more...
“Adoptable” toddler removed from parents, after social services allege they smoked cigarettes around him (8 June 2015)
A couple whose two-year-old son was taken away by social services and will be put up for adoption because they were smokers has spoken out about an alleged “pack of lies” child protection workers told to remove their blond, blue-eyed “adoptable” baby son. Read more...
Former Home Secretary refused to ban paedophile group PIE (8 June 2015)
It has been reported that former Home Secretary Leon Brittan – who held the position under Margaret Thatcher’s Conservative government – refused to ban the paedophile support group Paedophile Information Exchange (PIE) while he was in office. Read more...
Transsexual man loses legal battle for contact with former partner’s autistic daughter (5 June 2015)
A transsexual man has gone to court for the right to have contact with a nine-year-old girl – the daughter of his former partner, who is a lesbian. Read more...
Queen’s Speech expected to include new proposals to speed up adoption (26 May 2015)
This week’s Queen’s Speech is expected to include proposals to help speed up adoption, by encouraging councils to work more closely together to place children in new families. Read more...
Liverpool social services return baby boy to Slovakia for adoption (22 May 2015)
Social services in Liverpool have returned a six-month-old baby boy back to his mother’s native country of Slovakia, after she decided that she could not raise him. Read more...
Manchester University and council launch project to tackle “persistent prejudice” towards Roma families (20 May 2015)
Manchester Town Hall and the University of Manchester are collaborating on a project to tackle discrimination towards the Roma community among social services and schools. Read more...
Appeal Court upholds dying mother’s wish for daughter to be raised by close friends rather than child’s father (28 April 2015)
The Court of Appeal has granted a dying mother’s last wish by ruling that her daughter can live with close family friends rather than the child’s biological father. Read more...
Surrogate mother not allowed to bring up own daughter, court rules (20 April 2015)
A court has ruled that a surrogate mother must give up the baby she conceived for another couple for adoption, after a judge decided that allowing the mother to keep her baby would traumatise her other daughter too much. Read more...
Breakthrough in SIDS diagnosis (9 April 2015)
A US doctor believes he may have found the cause of Sudden Infant Death Syndrome (SIDS), whereby babies suddenly stop breathing and frequently die without apparent reason. Read more...
Nurse convicted of assault after smacking daughter in public (7 April 2015)
A mother has been convicted of assault on a child in a position of trust, after she slapped her “hysterical” daughter at a One Direction concert last June. Read more...
Cuts to Legal Aid “have harmed children’s rights” (7 April 2015)
A new report by the Joint Committee on Human Rights has said that government reforms to Legal Aid have had a “significant effect” on children’s rights. Read more...
Petition against Norfolk County Council’s child care cuts reaches 1,000 signatures (16 March 2015)
A petition opposing cuts to child minding services by Norfolk County Council has been signed by 1,000 people, local publisher EDP24 reports. Read more...
Report calls on government to secure future of state nurseries (12 March 2015)
A new report into state nurseries is warning that local authority budget cuts are making local state nurseries vulnerable to closure. Read more...
Father allowed to adopt son his own mother carried after IVF (4 March 2015)
A father whose own mother gave birth to his biological son has won the right to apply to adopt him, despite the fact the baby is also his brother. Read more...
Subsidised childcare scheme sends private nursery costs rocketing, with teachers and nurses “outpriced” (19 February 2015)
A government scheme which enables low-income families access to 15 hours of free childcare a week has had a negative impact on other families accessing affordable childcare because of a shortage in nursery places. Read more...
President of Family Division slams council for removing baby over young father’s links to EDL (18 February 2015)
The President of the Family Division Sir James Munby has criticised Darlington Borough Council for removing a newborn from his father because of the father’s links to the English Defence League (EDL). Read more...
Mother receives supervision order after pleading guilty to child neglect (10 February 2015)
A court in Blackburn has heard how police officers found a three-year-old child alone with a half-empty vodka bottle while the child’s mother slept upstairs with a man who had climbed up the drainpipe of the family’s home. Read more...
Mother pleads for help with getting her kidnapped daughter back from Libya (2 February 2015)
A mother whose baby daughter was abducted by her estranged husband and taken to live in Libya has written to the Prime Minister and the British Embassy in Libya begging for help in getting her child returned to the UK. Read more...
£2.9bn in unpaid child support “may be uncollectable” (28 January 2015)
Figures collated by the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) show that there is £3.9 billion-worth of uncollected child maintenance payments outstanding, most of which may never be collected by the Child Support Agency. Read more...
London, West Midlands and Greater Manchester “top hotspots” for child abduction (27 January 2015)
New figures from the charity Parents and Abducted Children Together (PACT) have revealed that in just one year, Greater Manchester Police have dealt with 66 cases of child abduction. Read more...
£230,000 average cost of raising just one child from birth to 21 (22 January 2015)
New figures from the Centre for Economics and Business Research for LV= Liverpool Victoria insurance have shown that the cost of raising a child in Britain from birth to the age of 21 has soared to nearly £230,000 for the first time. Read more...
NSPCC says lenient sentence for child sex offence teacher shows gap in law (19 January 2015)
Child protection groups are calling for a change in sentencing review rules, after a 44-year-old married teacher received an 18-month suspended sentence for breaching a position of trust when he had a sexual relationship with a 16-year-old pupil. Read more...
West Yorkshire Police criticised for child protection failings (19 January 2015)
West Yorkshire Police have been criticised over failings in child protection services. Read more...
Mayor’s office launches London initiative to tackle FGM through targeting fathers (8 January 2015)
Fathers with daughters at risk of female genital mutilation (FGM) are being targeted in London under a new scheme to prevent cases of FGM in the capital. Read more...
Court of Protection under fire after 72-year-old grandmother is jailed for hugging granddaughter (5 January 2015)
A grandmother who was jailed under Court of Protection rules for hugging her granddaughter has celebrated her release from prison over the New Year. Read more...
Rise in popularity of “co-parent” websites for “platonic parents” (5 January 2015)
An investigation by The Times has revealed that thousands of would-be parents are using websites to find a platonic partner with whom to have a child without any binding legal agreement between couples. Read more...